"That's all
right, Roger," he said quietly. "We've all been working pretty hard. One
little mistake is bound to show up in an operation like this." He
paused. "It's my fault. I should have checked those fuses myself."
"Does it make so much difference, sir?" asked Astro.
"A lot of difference, Astro," said Connel. He sat down heavily.
"But how, sir?" asked Tom.
"It's very simple, Tom," answered Connel. His voice was strangely quiet.
"Junior spins on its axis in two hours, just as Earth spins in
twenty-four hours. I thought we had the explosions timed so at the
proper moment we'd push Junior out of his orbit around Tara, and the
greater orbit around Alpha Centauri, by utilizing both speeds, plus the
initial thrust. But by being one blast short, forty minutes late, the
explosion will take place when Junior is forty minutes out of
position"--he paused and calculated rapidly in his mind--"that's about
forty-eight thousand miles out of position. When it goes off, instead of
sending Junior out into space, it'll blast it right into its own sun!"
"Isn't there something we can do, sir?" asked Tom.
"Nothing, Corbett," answered Connel wearily.
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